Dr Gabrielli asks why people still refuse to listen

AUSTRALIA'S sports people should cover up from the sun and for those wanting to sunbake, forget it.

That is the stark warning from Dr Brian Gabrielli (inset) of the University of Queensland's Centre for Immunology and Cancer Research, who was in Toowoomba at the weekend to officially start the inaugural Peak to Park Run for a Cure.

Dr Gabrielli said that with Australians' fascination with worshipping the sun, he is surprised there are not more cases of skin cancer and melanomas.

Playing sport and enjoying the sun is something Australians love, but without proper precautions, people are putting themselves at risk.

And while Dr Gabrielli believes people are now more aware of the dangers of the sun and that education is never-ending, he is continually amazed at our obsession with taking a risk.

"Statistics suggest that the rate of melanoma increase is not increasing as steeply, but it is only in certain areas where people tend to forget.

"If you go to the swimming pool or the beach you see little children covered in sunscreen, wearing sun suits and hats, but then the teenagers and the adults forget.

"But it's only on the beach that this happens. One street back from the beach and everyone is sun-smart again."

Originally from Townsville, Dr Gabrielli graduated with a science degree from James Cook University before completing his PhD in Melbourne.

Looking back he sees the irony in his present occupation.

"I only went into science because I didn't like writing," he laughed.

"Now my main tool is a laptop and I spend most of my time writing reports."

Three years in Denver Colorado followed by a year and a half at Harvard Medical School in Boston led him back to Brisbane where he is doing research to identify how the ultra-violet component of sunlight contributes to the development of melanoma.

Dr Gabrielli said vaccines will not be the future sole saviour in the fight against cancer.

"Vaccines will work in some situations, but they won't be the ultimate answer.

"The problem is cancer's resistance to treatment and it will always find a way around any one sort of treatment.

"What we are seeing now is multi-modality treatment so that the cancer can't adapt to any one treatment."

But he is confident a cure will eventually be found.

"People do get cured naturally through the body and it has nothing to do with treatment.

"Whatever reason it is we don't know, but it does happen. "So there is a cure, we just have to find it."